Target - 4:00 AM today appeared there were 16 people in line for a store that got 8 premium and 8 core systems .

Another two Targets - same story .

Costco - 4:45 AM 24 allocated for the store, my son and I were number #25 in line .

Another Costco - 5:00 AM 24 allocated for the store, my son and I were #20 in line !!! I was amazed as this Costco was closer to the city and I was not even going to go there.

Costco bundle = Premium system with 360 unit, wireless controller, hard drive, HD cable, ethernet cable, Live headset plus one game, another wireless controller, plug and play charger and a remote control for $479.99.

I hear most of you on the price. I was able to sell my boys XBOX and PS2's with games for $350.00 on ebaY so I had no problem with upgrading them for $125.00 or so more.

Wow..that Costco bundle you got was a great deal! I'll let my friends know about that one, just in case Costco gets more soon. Most of them were unable to score a 360 last night, because none of them pre-ordered. I had two pre-orders so I gave one away to my buddy and he just has to pay me back my down payment.

I'm very jealous of your 50 foot plasma by the way. That must be a marvel.

The Xbox 1.0 had a hard drive. Many of the games used that hard drive for assorted things (caching to speed up load times, etc, etc).

How they could make the Core version backwards compatible with no hard drive would be a puzzling challenge, but I do agree that it sucks that only the premium is back compatible.

Actually...I'll take it a step further and repeat my grumblings about the Core in general. I guess it's good if you are buying a second system, or a system for kids that don't care about Live, Backwards Compatibility, Storing lots of music or photos, Media Center stuff, plus the potential of "additional features".

For me, getting the premium was a no brainer.

By the way....PGR3 rocks my socks off. Of course...I am now a certified Xbox 360 fanboy, so my opinion may be weighted towards loving it.

It wasn't bad. I got there a little after midnight and waited with a couple of other guys until about 4:30 when a bunch of people showed up. They only had 20 (they reserved 5 for employees). The manager kept on top of it by checking periodically until 15 people were waiting so he would know who they were. He kept telling everybody else they weren't going to get one but for some reason they stuck around anyway. All in all it wasn't bad.

Logged

SilverZ

Researchers from electronics supply chain iSuppli have estimated, in a new analyst report, that the new Xbox 360 console is being sold at a loss of $127 to Microsoft. Analysis of the console by iSuppli has found that, according to them, the materials inside the unit cost $470 before assembly.

Additional items packaged inside the premium $399 Xbox 360 package, including the power supply, cables and controller, adds another $55 to the cost, resulting in a loss of $126. This figure is apparently assuming considerable discounts on the components and does not take into account marketing, distribution and other extraneous costs.

Regarding the original Xbox console, iSuppli estimates that it was sold at a loss of $24 at a retail price of $299, although this is actually significantly lower than most other estimates. Sony consoles are also traditionally sold at a loss, although revisions to manufacturing techniques and a lowering of components costs has previously seen hardware sales move into profit after a year or two on the market.

An unnamed Microsoft spokeswoman, talking to Business Week Online, has stated that Microsoft is planning for a “gross margin neutral” strategy in 2006, with profits expected to begin in 2007, as hardware costs lower and sales of more expensive next generation games software and accessories makes up the deficit.

That power supply is a behemoth. I figured it cost at LEAST 100 dollars just for the materials.

By the way, the reports on the net are true. The thing runs really hot if you put it in an entertainment center. I noticed it's quieter than my Xbox, so perhaps that's why. I took it out and put it on top of the thing.....and it wasn't so hot anymore.

Perhaps this is another Microsoft strategy. It gets angry, unless you display it for all to see.

Researchers from electronics supply chain iSuppli have estimated, in a new analyst report, that the new Xbox 360 console is being sold at a loss of $127 to Microsoft. Analysis of the console by iSuppli has found that, according to them, the materials inside the unit cost $470 before assembly.

Additional items packaged inside the premium $399 Xbox 360 package, including the power supply, cables and controller, adds another $55 to the cost, resulting in a loss of $126. This figure is apparently assuming considerable discounts on the components and does not take into account marketing, distribution and other extraneous costs.

Regarding the original Xbox console, iSuppli estimates that it was sold at a loss of $24 at a retail price of $299, although this is actually significantly lower than most other estimates. Sony consoles are also traditionally sold at a loss, although revisions to manufacturing techniques and a lowering of components costs has previously seen hardware sales move into profit after a year or two on the market.

An unnamed Microsoft spokeswoman, talking to Business Week Online, has stated that Microsoft is planning for a “gross margin neutral” strategy in 2006, with profits expected to begin in 2007, as hardware costs lower and sales of more expensive next generation games software and accessories makes up the deficit.

Isn't the money made on the games anyway? So what if you lose $100+ per unit when you are making $90 of pure profit per cartridge?